So You Want to be Admired
I asked my friends why they thought Michelle Obama was selected as the Most Admired Woman in America. They listed for me all the reasons they admired her:
- She’s nice
- She’s classy
- She’s kind
- She’s smart
- She’s compassionate
- She’s authentic
- She loves her family
- She’s educated
- She’s an advocate
- She’s dignified
- She’s a hard worker
- She’s got a good sense of humor
- She’s honest without ever being mean
- She’s fit
- She’s thoughtful, considerate
- She has humility & integrity
- She’s confident but not arrogant
- She’s intelligent but not haughty
- She’s resilient
- She cares for others
I don’t know if you make New Year’s Resolutions or not. I think I make them nearly every morning when I awake. I pray that I’ll get through the day being a little more kind, a little more graceful, a little less critical. The reason I have to do this daily is because I’m usually a miserable failure at being a better person. Still, the desire is there, the want to exists within me.
So I share this list with you, my friends, because I believe the “want to” exists within most of us, and because I think this list gives us all a roadmap for “Becoming” the sort of people that others admire.
Call it a “To Do List For Becoming Admired” if you like.
Of course, if you are reading this, chances are that I’m already an admirer of yours.
Wishing us all our best selves in 2019. I think it is shaping up to be a great year already. And you? What is it you are hoping for in 2019?
Karen Spears Zacharias is author of CHRISTIAN BEND, a novel, Mercer Univ. Press
3 Comments
AF Roger
about 6 years agoI'm wondering what things you see shaping up that would lift 2019 into the category of being a great year. Perhaps you could elaborate. If we asked that question of God's creation, how would it answer? I think it already is answering, and has been; but we have not been hearing or seeing. RE Ms. Obama, a good friend was a consultant to a Chicago health care organization years ago when Ms. Obama (not sure if she was then married) was given a seat on some kind of committee or special task force. Since my friend, an old USAF buddy, was involved in the organization's finances, he saw what people were earning. He related to me that M.O. had a ridiculously high salary in return for nothing much productive that he could see. If any of that is accurate, whose responsibility is that? Hers, the organization's, or both? Since I have no other corroborating details or other examples of similar activity on her part, I have always held my friend's comments as a very incomplete picture, never a definitive one. Instead, I have asked myself, "What has she been doing, and how has she handled herself since?" Your list above seems to fit pretty well. I could imagine having honest conversations for hours with M.O. and her husband. I could not in my wildest dreams imagine having a shred of an honest conversation with either of the first couple we now have. Not that I wouldn't like to try! Our 40-year-old daughter is flying up from California specifically for Ms. Obama's appearance here, and she is treating my wife with a free ticket. I'll get first-hand glowing reports, I'm sure. At the same time, we should remember something. Considering all the appearances and the ridiculous prices of tickets, millions and millions of dollars are changing hands. Once a person attains a certain status in this society, it's almost impossible to stop the money from coming their way--and the opportunity for influence. How will she and all the audience people use that? As Scripture reminds us, from those to whom much has been given, much is required. 2019? Same prayers I pray every day: for different, better and wiser leaders, and citizens to match with different, better and wiser hearts. Amen.
Karen Spears Zacharias
about 6 years agoDoes it make me shallow to admit that I am sooo jealous that your daughter and your wife are going to hear MO speak? I looked at tickets but with three daughters, had to rule that out. Too pricey. I hope you will report back all the details when you get them. Happy New Year, Roger. I am ready for 2019 and a check on this administration. And no, I wouldn't even sit for an interview with either occupant in the house right now. No thank you.
AF Roger
about 6 years agoNot shallow. Kind, generous, questioning and intelligent people are never shallow. As John Prine so wisely observed in a song, "Some humans ain't human..." But the good news is that others ARE. Yes, I will write a summary for you. And speaking of human, it was not our daughter who bought the tickets. It was our son-in-law who bought them as a Christmas gift to her. We think our kid done purty good when she done chose a mate. He's my kind o' guy--hers too!